MoCo Touch vs the Pipe

The introduction of the beloved “Pipe” in the security sector was the first, and very successful step towards automating this labour intensive and fallible process. It reduces the need for paper records, and cuts out a large amount of the duplication of effort associated with it.

It scores on other fronts too, not least the design of it which means that it is virtually indestructible, although it still has a reputation for losing the odd record or two if a battery runs out or if it is dropped.

But overall, it means that a guard can spend more time guarding, and less time form-filling.

Its significant downfall lies in the fact that in the main, a guard must return the device to a docking station in order to download a patrol check report. This is still a waste of a guard’s time and means that it cannot be used to offer protection to the guard in times of danger (other than to bash someone over the head with!).

But perhaps most important of all, if a demanding customer calls at 6am and wants to know if the rear fire exit door of his warehouse containing £1m worth of stock (that has just been stolen) was checked at 2am this morning by one of your guards, unless the Pipe is in your possession and close to a docking station, how can you possibly reassure them (and yourself) that it was? Let alone prove it?

And when you hand over that unlocked spreadsheet of transactions that you downloaded an hour earlier, how are you going to deal with that accusing, suspicious glare?

And if you couldn’t prove beyond reasonable doubt that your guard was on-site and patrolling, who will be liable? Have you got the insurance to cover a claim? What will it do to your premiums next year? And how long before your customers insist that you provide more up-to-date information before their own insurance company forbids them from using you?

It is true to say that the real-time issue of this technology has to a certain extent been dealt with by Bluetooth connections to mobile phones, but ultimately the more gadgets you connect to one another, the more chance that one of them will go wrong.

Buy MoCo Touch if...

You want to ensure that every security guard touchpoint has been visited, on time, and actions have been taken, and you want the data to be instantly updated centrally without the guard having to be back at base.

Buy Pipes if...

Your primary concern is to have a device that is very rugged. MoCo Touch operates within a mobile phone and a Pipe is clearly a more robust device. Your primary interest would be in ensuring that the device can’t be broken (accidentally or otherwise) as a higher priority than ensuring you have real-time data about security movements and actions.